Acts 15:1-21 | Discerning God's Will预览

The Bible

Jesus said the Spirit will teach us all things and guide us into all truth (John 14:26; 16:13). There are three main ways believers in Christ have gone about discerning what the Spirit is teaching and how he’s guiding.

They are the Bible, conscience, and the Church. Think of them like three legs of a stool for discerning God’s will. All three contribute. We’ll take one each day. Today we start with the Bible.

The Bible is the record of what Jesus taught and did. It is the record of God’s prophets who went before him and his apostles who followed him. It is the record of how God has interacted in this world, and where he is taking it. It is the record of what he has revealed about himself, his character and will, about us and our plight, and where life and the world are heading. It speaks to the questions of the cosmos and gets as personal as our inner being. It does not include everything Jesus ever taught, nor does it answer every question we’ll ever have. But it tells us what is necessary for understanding the heart of God, for salvation, and for following him.

The Bible is the source. The Reformers based their discernment process on something called sola scriptura—scripture alone. This doesn’t mean they only turned to the Bible for wisdom and nothing else. It means that the Bible has the last word. It’s the final authority on all questions of truth and discerning God’s will.

The Bible is a record, and the Bible is authoritative, but the Bible is more than that. It is the voice of God himself. Paul, directed by the Spirit as a prophet and apostle, records in the Bible that the Bible is God-breathed. It’s where we get our word “inspired.” Not just a flash of insight or clarity, but more. The Bible is laced with the Spirit of God himself and infused with his voice today. God still speaks. He speaks through the Bible.

When you’re seeking to discern God’s will, go to the Bible. Make it your source. See what God has said. This does not mean you’ll find a verse that answers every single question you’ll bring to the Bible (though sometimes you will). Learn its contours and stories instead. What are the moves it makes? How is God operating? What is the big picture narrative? How does God interact? Ingest these stories and absorb blocks of teaching. Through them God will guide you. You’ll become more attuned to his character and will.

Most importantly, read it in light of Jesus. Jesus himself says all the scriptures point to him, and that he is their fulfillment. Let him be their prime interpreter. That’s what the apostles in Acts 15 did. James (Jesus’s half-brother), a leader in the church whom Paul calls one of its pillars, wrestles through the experiences Paul and Barnabas recount by comparing it to promises in the Bible God had made. He sees how they’re coming about in Jesus. Here he finds verification for how to proceed in discerning God’s will in light of new developments.

What conclusions are you drawing about God’s will? Go to the Bible, and see how it supports or challenges them.